THE BEST EVIDENCE OF THE VALUE OF REAL PROPERTY FOR PROPERTY-TAX-ASSESSMENT PURPOSES IS A RECENT ARMS-LENGTH SALE; ASSESSMENT REDUCED (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court and lowering the property tax assessment of petitioners’ property, determined the best evidence of the value of the property is an arms-length sale for an amount $750,000 less than the assessment:

“In an RPTL article 7 tax certiorari proceeding, a rebuttable presumption of validity attaches to the valuation of property made by the taxing authority” … . Therefore, on a summary judgment motion, a petitioner bears the initial burden of “presenting substantial evidence to demonstrate that the subject property was overvalued” … . In considering whether this minimal threshold has been met … , “[i]t is well settled that the best evidence of market value is a recent sale of the subject property between a seller under no compulsion to sell and a buyer under no compulsion to buy” … .

Petitioners submitted evidence that the December 20, 2020 sale for $3,495,000, occurring 18 months prior to the July 1, 2022 valuation date, was carried out at arm’s length. This was sufficient to rebut the presumption of the assessment’s validity and to satisfy petitioners’ burden on summary judgment … . …

… [R]espondents provided no support for their valuation of $4,257,000, a 22% increase in value since the sale just 18 months prior … . The assessor’s broad claim that the market for properties such as this one “rose remarkably” during that time was conclusory … , and his assertion regarding the types of approaches “[g]enerally” used to establish fair market value did not indicate whether either or both of those approaches were used in this particular instance. The fact that respondents engaged an outside appraisal firm while completing their town-wide revaluation is also of no moment, as respondents did not show how that firm evaluated this particular property or what conclusions it reached. As such, petitioners’ motion should have been granted … . Matter of Robins v Board of Assessment Review, 2025 NY Slip Op 02119, Third Dept 4-9-25

Practice Point: Here the tax assessor’s claim that property values had risen “remarkably” did not raise a question of fact in this tax certiorari proceeding seeking a reduction of the property-tax assessment. The best evidence of the value of the property was deemed to be the amount of a recent arms-length sale of the property.